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Review: The Norm (The Glitches #3)

(I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

Can a Glitch ever overcome her programming?

Escaping the AI’s clutches came with a heavy price, but Lib is about the find out the worst is yet to come. While Lib is desperately searching for answers in her mother’s former home, the abandoned Empties, an earthquake engineered by the AI drives her and her friends underground, forcing them to decide their course of action once and for all: keep hiding forever or face the AI head on. Lib knows remaining hidden means certain death, but convincing the Rogues to follow her may be an impossible task.

As the group takes shelter in a secret underground facility, Lib unwittingly discovers the birthplace of the AI. She hatches a plan to turn the system against itself, but it means asking Wolf and the Rogues to do the one thing they never would. Lib’s connection with Wolf feels unbreakable, but her plan will force him to sacrifice everything he’s ever known.

Breaking into the Norm is the easy part, now Lib must face an enemy far worse than she could’ve anticipated. If she fails to overcome her programming and defeat the AI, it means the friends she’s come to see as family will never survive.

Lib has grown. She is no longer a stranger among the rogues. she belongs with the Tracker clan and almost all of them accept her. But meeting the other clans is a whole new thing. They don't see her as a rogue. They don't even see her as human. I enjoyed getting to know more about Lib through her constant questions to herself as to whether she is a Glitch or a Rogue. This book also explores the relationship between Lib and Wolf which was a little awkward at times considering Lib knows nothing about either feelings or sex. She notices the way her stomach flips around Wolf and how her cheeks grow warm but it takes her a long time to start understanding what they mean.

Wolf is still the same. He still distrusts the AI but trusts Lib and her ideas on how to attack the AI. I liked how Wolf has been a constant throughout the series. Even in book 1 when he didn't really trust Lib, he cared for his clan and tried to do the best which hasn't changed till now.

While each character is written quite wonderfully, I couldn't connect with them as I did with Lib. I think it's probably because in some ways lib is like us; she likes to use technology and machines while all the rogues distrust machines and any kind of software.

While book 1 dealt with Lib figuring the basics out and book 2 dealt with her convincing the rogues that the AI is the biggest threat for the whole world, book 3 is where they actually fight back. After the failed attempts in the first 2 books, this is where Lib and the rogues hatch a proper plan to attack the AI. I enjoyed the plot and the ending reminded me a bit of the movie "Lucy". While I'm still trying to wrap my head around that ending, I can't deny I was entertained. I also loved how not everything was wrapped up in a bow at the end. It made the story more believable.

Ramona Finn writes simply and wonderfully. Except for some typos and some small grammatical errors in my copy (Which I'm willing to look past since it's an e-galley), I enjoyed the author's fuss free descriptions and dialogue. The writing makes even the slow parts move fast and I ended up reading the book in one sitting!

- Almost everything

- The typos and grammatical errors

A wonderful finale to an exciting dystopian/science fiction trilogy. I'm surprised the book doesn't have more fans to be honest! It has fuss free writing and while at certain points it's slow, it's never anything less than interesting.